May 14, 2026 [LINK / comment]
Here we go again with another "catch-up" blog post summarizing an especially busy month of birding ...
November 2: I led an Augusta Bird Club field trip, hiking along the Chimney Hollow trail, with clear blue skies and relatively mild temperatures. I tabulated 17 species at that location, including the Brown Creepers that Antonio Martinez found, and we added a few more at Braley Pond afterwards. We came upon one of the target birds -- Winter Wrens -- soon after we began, but they were very difficult to actually see for more than a half second at a time. Purple Finches and American Goldfinches were also there. Later on we went to nearby Braley Pond and had a great closeup view of a Ruby-crowned Kinglet, as well as an Eastern Phoebe.
November 2: ABC: Chimney Hollow, Braley Pond
November 3: At Bell's Lane in the late afternoon, I found TWO first-of-season species: Northern Harrier and White-crowned Sparrow! (Someone else had reported a Harrier there a few weeks ago.) Other highlights included a dozen or so Cedar Waxwings, many American Robins, several Carolina Chickadees and Tufted Titmice, a few Eastern Bluebirds, and one Red-bellied Woodpecker.
November 4: We saw hundreds of American Robins and dozens of Black Vultures on Penny Warren's bird walk for the Augusta Bird Club along Bell's Lane this morning, but the big highlights were the Cedar Waxwings, Purple Finch (F), American Kestrel, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (M), and Red-bellied Woodpeckers. (The latter bird and the Downy Woodpecker shown below were both in our back yard after I got back home.)
November 6: I went for a walk around the Mill Place trail in Verona in the afternoon, and saw 25 or so Cedar Waxwings flying all around, as well as five or so Yellow-rumped Warblers, some Song Sparrows, and a Swamp Sparrow or two. A Belted Kingfisher was at the pond behind Hardees. Then on Bell's Lane I spotted a White-crowned Sparrow.
November 8: I drove out to Augusta Springs, and eventually managed to spot two of my target species: Hermit Thrush and Brown Creeper. Both were the first ones of the season for me. Other highlights included Pileated Woodpeckers (at least three), Pied-billed Grebe, Golden-crowned Kinglets, Purple Finch, Eastern Towhee, and best of all, an American Woodcock that flushed only about 15 feet away from me! That twittering sound they make in flight is very entertaining. No photo of it, unfortunately.
November 8: Augusta Springs
November 13: I found a Pied-billed Grebe on the Mill Place trail pond late in the afternoon, along with some kind of duck that flew away before I could identify it. There were lots of sparrows as well, including Field and Swamp Sparrows, plus a dozen or so American Goldfinches and a few Red-winged Blackbirds.
November 16: Just before noon I drove up to the place west of Dayton where the Snowy Owl was seen yesterday, to no avail. Then I headed over to nearby Paul State Forest, and embarked on a hike that turned out to be twice as long as I expected: nearly two miles each way. (I had only been there once before, and figured that I might as well go to the very end of the trail, since I'm unlikely to return there any time soon.) Eventually I saw five of the six woodpecker species that are found in most parts of Virginia: [Pileated, Hairy, Red-bellied, Downy, and Yellow-bellied Sapsucker.]
November 16: Paul State Forest.
November 22: A nice side-effect of the bitterly cold temperatures is that more birds come looking for food provided by us nice humans. I barely even had to step outside to get nice views and photos of a wide variety of colorful birds! The highlights were a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (or maybe two) and a Ruby-crowned Kinglet. The Carolina Wrens now have their rich beige winter plumage, the opposite of most birds which tend to be duller in the colder months.
November 23: Jacqueline and I went up to Dayton and Harrisonburg for shopping today, but a brief visit to Silver Lake proved fruitless: just a few Mallards, and nothing else. Later on I went to Bell's Lane and had my first view of a male "gray ghost" Northern Harrier of the season! A female or young one was also swooping around in the distance. Other highlights included some distant Cedar Waxwings, very close White-crowned Sparrows, Eastern Bluebirds, a Red-bellied Woodpecker, etc.
November 25: We had a Northern Flicker out back in the morning, and it happened to be accompanied by a Red-bellied Woodpecker. In the afternoon I paid a quick visit to the Swoope area, but didn't see much other than an American Kestrel. At Montgomery Hall Park I lured two Hermit Thrushes into my vicinity by playing their call, but otherwise it was very quiet there, bird-wise. Back home, finally, I spotted a Downy Woodpecker and a White-breasted Nuthatch.
November 27: One of my favorite trails during the colder months is behind the Murphy-Deming College (part of Mary Baldwin University) in Fishersville, so that's where I went for a walk. Eventually I got to see almost all of my target birds, starting with a Red-breasted Nuthatch and ending with a Winter Wren, both very close by. I also saw a White-breasted Nuthatch, Purple Finch (F), a Hermit Thrush (hard to see in the bad lighting conditions), and a few Yellow-rumped Warblers.
November 28 (Thanksgiving!): A mid-afternoon walk along Bell's Lane yielded some of the usual winter residents, including 50+ American Robins, Northern Mockingbirds, White-crowned Sparrows, and a Northern Harrier (male), as well as a few nice surprises, such as a Red-tailed Hawk, an American Goldfinch, and best of all, a Great Blue Heron that flew right in front of my car and then landed in an open field. I had not seen any of that species for well over a month!
November 28: Bell's Lane.
November 30: It was brutally cold again, but I really needed the exercise, so I went for a walk around the Mill Place trail in Verona. There were a few Field Sparrows and other kinds of sparrows, but not much else. Birds are smart! A lone Belted Kingfisher was patrolling the pond behind Hardee's, and I almost got a closeup shot. Over at Bell's Lane there were some White-crowned Sparrows, House Finches, American Robins, Cedar Waxwings, and a distant Northern Harrier.
Additional photos and montages, including individual photos of some of the birds in the above montages, will soon become available on the Wild Birds chronological (2024) page. (I am in the midst of a major reorganization of my bird photos, so that they will be sorted year by year.)